I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back • Hacker News Board

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#591

Post by creep » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 4:21 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #488

muse900 wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I feel like makers saw an opportunity on 1) boost sales on new headphones 2) get rid of the cable hanging around. I can understand and feel your fathers frustration trying to use wireless headphones, on the other side if they never ever get rid of the headphone jack then users are going to end up never getting trained on how to use wireless headphones. Generally with leaps in tech there are leaps in reduce…

> I can understand and feel your fathers frustration trying to use wireless headphones, on the other side if they never ever get rid of the headphone jack then users are going to end up never getting trained on how to use wireless headphones. But why do you want to get rid of the headphone jack? For iPhone, this is a direct downgrade, loss of very useful functionality. That's why people are complaining; while compani…

The only reason apple got rid of the headphone jack was so they could sell you the adapters for $30+. I want a headphone jack, AND I want bluetooth capability. I'll buy your wireless headphones if I want to use wireless, otherwise I'll buy your wired headphones, but I'm not paying $30+ for the dongle. Instead, I'm gonna buy a samsung.

It baffles me that people are arguing about the merits of bluetooth and the ease of wireless when, in reality, it was a profit move!

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#592

Post by omaranto » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 4:22 PM UTC

wmeitzler wrote: post #580

omaranto wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't you only thinking of a few expensive "flagship" Android phones? I don't think the vast majority of recent Android phones have followed either of those two innovations.

I wish. It's everywhere. When I went phone shopping this year, my criteria was 1: not a phablet 2: Headphone jack 3: No notch. My options in the $500+ market* were... the Galaxy S9. And it's likely the S10 will be swapping its headphone jack for a cutout notch. *$500 for a phone is suddenly midrange- let's not forget phone prices shot up 25% on average in the last 2 years, likely because other manufacturers realized…

Oh, maybe I'm just naive about what expensive means, then. :P I typed this on my non-notched, audio-jacked, ~80 USD Huawei Y5 Pro, that I'm very happy with.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#593

Post by forgottenpass » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 4:28 PM UTC

saurik wrote: post #427

Bud wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirPods require neither of these things. The case is always charging them. You want to use your beyerdynamics? Fine. Your phone came with an adapter for them.

I use AirPods. I even like them. ... but you do realize that the case isn't a magical source of energy, right? You have to charge that thing... and the airpods themselves last a remarkably long time, but they don't last that long, so I find myself having to do this awkward dance in the middle of meetings where I take one out and charge it while relying on the other one, and then I swap to charge that one... I have li…

As a workaround I use an inductive charger while using headphones. Not a great solution because it only works at my desk, but better than nothing.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#594

Post by mikestew » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 4:33 PM UTC

sacado2 wrote: post #438

pookieinc wrote: post #213

We need to take into account _Accessibility_. A large use case that I've found most people seems to miss are individuals who are older and don't have much experience with bluetooth or wireless technology. I'm fine with Apple removing the headphone jack, but they've alienated so many people to find their own path when they don't include the adapter. Anecdotal example: I recently purchased headphones for my 65-year old…

I'm not an eldery, and I prefer a jack socket. I just don't get the benefit of bluetooth in most situations. Jacks are more reliable and definitely plug-and-play. Unless it has a physical failure, your jack socket always just works. As you state it, bluetooth requires you to "Turn on Bluetooth on your phone, then turn on your headphones, then hold down the button to pair, etc", for no benefit. Oh, and now you need ba…

Look at professional musicians: you won't find anybody connecting his guitar to the amp through bluetooth.

The first example that comes to mind is Angus Young, who has said that he considers his wireless rig to be part of his "sound". If any rock musician qualifies as "old", well, Angus ain't running around on stage like he used to. Anyway, that's just one example. Pros use wireless rigs all the time. They're not BT, though.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#595

Post by xg15 » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 4:35 PM UTC

jamesrcole wrote: post #554

yoodenvranx wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Removing headphone jack speeds up uptake of wireless headphones 1) And by doing this we create even more e-waste! 2) I do _not_ want wireless headphones! I almost exclusively use headphones when I am traveling by bus and train. This happens every 2-4 weeks. At the moment I have a cheap pair of wired headphones in my backpack. They need 0 maintenance. if I need them I just use them. They never needs charging and the…

> 1) And by doing this we create even more e-waste! You could say that about anything new. > 2) I do _not_ want wireless headphones! Good for you, no-one is forcing you to use them. All I have ever done in this comment thread is argue against the idea that removing the headphone jack has zero benefits for anyone. And yet I'm getting piled on by people basically accusing me of trying to force everyone to go wireless.…

But no-one was forcing you to use wired headsets before either. There were options for wireless available.

I think the question remains whether making wired headphones harder to use had zero benefits. That's a different question than whether making wireless headphones easier to use had.

You made an economic argument for the former question - but you can't make that argument and say "no one is forcing you" at the same time.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#596

Post by SonicSoul » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 4:44 PM UTC

hmm my 65 year old dad figured out bluetooth pairing with his car, and a JBL speaker i got him, BUT takes 10 minutes of fiddling around with car menus to pair my phone when im borrowing the car, AND when you pair more than one device to the speaker, there's no easy way to switch other than going to bluetooth menu and finding the device (re-pairing each time).

i wish it was proximity aware and just chose the nearest device instead of trying to connect to most recent or nothing at all.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#597

Post by tripzilch » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 4:45 PM UTC

lloeki wrote: post #381

skgoa wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they've alienated so many people to find their own path when they don't include the adapter. My iPhone came with an adapter, though. I continue using the same headphones as I did with my old phone.

While I mourn the practicality of the embedded jack on my iPhone 8, I've had quite a few headphones in a row whose jack ended up failing due to the way my phone is placed inside my pocket, and a repair was impossible, so that was quite an unexpected improvement to have the adapter possibly fail and be replaced at a very small cost instead of a full headset† going bust. † five actually (100-300€ price range), two of w…

> of which the cord is replaceable (which I did) but how long will that specific cord be available?

Isn't it a generic 3.5mm to 2.5mm jack for nearly most of them? All headphones with replaceable cords I own and have owned have this cable.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#598

Post by muse900 » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 4:51 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #488

muse900 wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I feel like makers saw an opportunity on 1) boost sales on new headphones 2) get rid of the cable hanging around. I can understand and feel your fathers frustration trying to use wireless headphones, on the other side if they never ever get rid of the headphone jack then users are going to end up never getting trained on how to use wireless headphones. Generally with leaps in tech there are leaps in reduce…

> I can understand and feel your fathers frustration trying to use wireless headphones, on the other side if they never ever get rid of the headphone jack then users are going to end up never getting trained on how to use wireless headphones. But why do you want to get rid of the headphone jack? For iPhone, this is a direct downgrade, loss of very useful functionality. That's why people are complaining; while compani…

> But why do you want to get rid of the headphone jack? For iPhone, this is a direct downgrade, loss of very useful functionality. That's why people are complaining; while companies seem to like trading utility for fashion all the time, this case was unprecedently blatant.

I'd say that in order to get rid of cabled headphones at some point in time, you have to start somewhere. I do think that wirless headphones is the future and that headphones with a cable will cease to exist in a few years. I can't argue that there are financial decisions involved into it and that they are not making a killing with it. But someone needs to start somewhere.

I think this apply to any technological advance we've made so far as humans and its part of evolving.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#599

Post by tomaskafka » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 4:55 PM UTC

yellowapple wrote: post #234

kbenson wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Use another brand phone? It couldn't really be simpler, free market and all. Well, it could be simpler, and more of a free market, if you could choose your OS across different brands instead of also having to change that, or if you didn't lose access to everything you have already bought for one OS's app marketplace. There are plenty of things being done by the vendors in this space specifically to combat the effec…

All the more reason to put your money toward phones that run an operating system that's not locked to one specific device vendor.

Come on. You can pick Apple that sometimes act forceful in the name of (future|profits) and you can pick Google's personal data collector with smartphone functions bolted on, and that's it.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#600

Post by Spivak » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 4:57 PM UTC

tjoff wrote: post #546

yoz-y wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really niche. The GP's problem is solved because pairing effectively becomes "put these two things close together and open the box".

If it only works on one device it is pretty niche and hardly a replacement for the headphone jack...

I mean it's certainly a replacement for the headphone jack on that device which is pretty much the stated goal.